This invention relates generally to semiconductor device fabrication, and more particularly to photolithographic process windows and optical proximity correction (OPC) as used in such fabrication.
Since the invention of the integrated circuit (IC), semiconductor chip features have become exponentially smaller and the number of transistors per device exponentially larger. Advanced IC""s with hundreds of millions of transistors at feature sizes of 0.25 micron, 0.18 micron, and less are becoming routine. Improvement in overlay tolerances in photolithography, and the introduction of new light sources with progressively shorter wavelengths, have allowed optical steppers to significantly reduce the resolution limit for semiconductor fabrication far beyond one micron. To continue to make chip features smaller, and increase the transistor density of semiconductor devices, IC""s have begun to be manufactured that have features smaller than the lithographic wavelength.
Sub-wavelength lithography, however, places large burdens on lithographic processes. Resolution of anything smaller than a wavelength is generally quite difficult. Pattern fidelity can deteriorate dramatically in sub-wavelength lithography. The resulting semiconductor features may deviate significantly in size and shape from the ideal pattern drawn by the circuit designer. These distortions include line-width variations dependent on pattern density, which affect a device""s speed of operation, and line-end shortening, which can break connections to contacts. To avoid these and other optical proximity effects, the semiconductor industry has attempted to compensate for them in the photomasks themselves.
This compensation is generally referred to as optical proximity correction (OPC). The goal of OPC is to produce smaller features in an IC using a given equipment set by enhancing the printability of a wafer pattern. OPC applies systematic changes to mask geometries to compensate for the nonlinear distortions caused by optical diffraction and resist process effects. A mask incorporating OPC is thus a system that negates undesirable distortion effects during pattern transfer. OPC works by making small changes to the IC layout that anticipate the distortions. OPC offers basic corrections and a useful amount of device yield improvement, and enables significant savings by extending the lifetime of existing lithography equipment. Distortions that can be corrected by OPC include line-end shortening, corner rounding, isolated-dense proximity effect, and isolated-line depth of focus reduction.
Line-end shortening (LES) is the shortening of the end of a metal line end in the actual fabricated semiconductor device as compared to the circuit designer""s originally contemplated ideal device. An example of LES is shown in FIG. 1A. The line 102 should extend to the originally designed end 104. However, in actuality, the line 102 may only extend to the actually fabricated end 106. OPC can be used to correct LES by adding serifs or hammerheads to the originally designed end in the photomask, such that during photolithography, the actually fabricated end more closely approximates the location of the originally designed end. The addition of serifs is shown in FIG. 1B, in which the serifs 110 and 112 have been added to the line 102 at its end 104. The addition of a hammerhead is shown in FIG. 1C, in which the hammerhead 120 has been added to the line 102 at its end 104.
Corner rounding is the degree to which feature corners that should be at sharp angles are instead rounded by the lithography process. An example of corner rounding is shown in FIG. 2A. The feature 202 should include the outside sharp corner 204 and the inside sharp corner 206. However, in actuality, the feature 202 may only include the outside rounded corner 208 and the inside rounded corner 210. OPC can be used to correct corner rounding by adding serifs to outside corners, which are called positive serifs, and subtracting serifs from the inside corners, which are called negative serifs, to the feature in the photomask. This is shown in FIG. 2B, in which the positive serif 220 has been added to the outside corner 204 of the feature 202, and the negative serif 222 has been removed from the inside corner 210 of the feature 202.
Isolated-dense proximity effect, or bias, refers to the degree to which the mean of measured dense features differs from the mean of like-sized measured isolated features. Isolated-dense bias is especially important in the context of critical dimensions (CD""s), which are the geometries and spacings used to monitor the pattern size and ensure that it is within the customer""s specification. CD bias, therefore, refers to when the designed and actual values do not match. Ideally, bias approaches zero, but in actuality can measurably affect the resulting semiconductor device""s performance and operation. Isolated features, such as lines, can also negatively affect depth of focus, such that they cannot be focused as well with the lithography equipment as can dense features.
OPC can be used to correct the isolated-dense proximity effect and the isolated-feature depth of focus reduction by adding scattering bars (SB""s) and anti-scattering bars (ASB""s) near the edges of opaque and clear features, respectively, on a photomask. SB""s are sub-resolution opaque-like features, whereas ASB""s are sub-resolution clear-like features. Both serve to alter the images of isolated and semi-isolated lines to match those of densely nested lines, and improve depth of focus so that isolated lines can be focused as well as dense lines can with the lithography equipment. For example, FIG. 3A shows a set of SB""s 300, whereas FIG. 3b shows the placement of such sets of SB""s 300 near an isolated line 302, in contradistinction to the dense sets of lines 304 and 306.
Unfortunately, OPC is a difficult process, because determining the optimal type, size, and symmetry of the compensations to be made on the mask can be very complex, and depends on neighboring geometries and process parameters. Usually, a sophistical computer program is used to properly implement OPC. Using empirical data, OPC software creates a mathematical description of the process distortions, which can be in the form of simple shape manipulation rules, or a more detailed and intricate process model. Once this description is generated, automated software changes the shapes of the polygons in the pattern layout files, moving segments of line edges and adding features that compensate the layout for the distortions that will result. The critical levels of the photomask set can then be made using these modified, predistorted layout designs.
Like other semiconductor processes, OPC is desirably continually monitored and verified to ensure mask quality. Usually, OPC is inserted as part of a verification/tape-out activity. While OPC can more efficiently be included as part of mask data preparation, enough errors have been detected on wafers processed in this manner that many users are hesitant to make such significant changes to their pattern date without the insurance providing by repeating other verification steps after OPC has been applied. Mask inspection is also negatively impacted by OPC, since the addition of the small geometries may appear identical to features that mask inspection machines have been trained to recognize as defects. Masks and reticles with these features will appear to contain thousands of such defects, and be rejected. Manual inspection is also slow, because the technician must examine many different parts of each mask to ensure that the mask has been produced correctly. Since masks inherently differ based on the semiconductor device being fabricated, manual inspection can become a very laborious and non-standardized process. Production yield of new semiconductor devices as a result is usually reduced when using OPC.
Another issue that impacts the quality of lithography is focus variation, which is nearly ubiquitous in IC manufacturing because of the combined effects of many problems, such as wafer non-flatness, auto-focus errors, leveling errors, lens heating, and so on. A useful lithographic process should be able to print acceptable patterns in the presence of focus variation. Similarly, a useful lithographic process should be able to print acceptable patterns in the presence of variation in the exposure dose, or energy, of the light source being used. To account for these simultaneous variations of exposure dose and/focus, it is useful to map out the process window, such as an exposure-defocus (ED) window, within which acceptable lithographic quality occurs. The process window for a given feature, with or without OPC to compensate for distortions, shows the ranges of exposure dose and DOF that permit acceptable lithographic quality.
For example, FIG. 4 shows a graph 400 of a typical ED process window for a given semiconductor pattern feature. The y-axis 402 indicates exposure dose of the light source being used, whereas the x-axis 404 indicates DOF. The line 406 maps exposure dose versus DOF at one end of the tolerance range for the CD of the pattern feature, whereas the line 408 maps exposure dose versus DOF at the other end of the tolerance range for the CD of the feature. The area 410 enclosed by the lines 406 and 408 is the ED process window for the pattern feature, indicating the ranges of both DOF and exposure dose that permit acceptable lithographic quality of the feature. Any DOF-exposure dose pair that maps within the area 410 permits acceptable lithographic quality of the pattern feature. As indicated by the area 410, the process window is typically represented as a rectangle, but this is not always the case, nor is it necessary.
Unfortunately, the photolithographic process window can also vary, from fabrication equipment to fabrication equipment. For example, a semiconductor device designer may use a given type of research and development fabrication equipment when designing a device. The designer may use OPC in generating the photomasks for the device to ensure that proper fabrication of the device occurs. The process windows for the photomasks may be dependent on the equipment used by the designer.
However, when the designer finalizes the design, and sends it to a manufacturer for mass production, the manufacturer may use different fabrication equipment. This means that the semiconductor photomasks provided by the designer may not be able to used for proper fabrication of the device on the fabrication equipment of the manufacturer. The process windows for the photomasks may be different for the fabrication equipment used by the manufacturer, as compared to that used by the designer. Similar problems occur with different fabrication equipment at the developer product and transfer production stages of fabrication.
Currently, time-intensive and costly manual verification of photomasks are performed, to ensure that they yield proper semiconductor device fabrication with the manufacturer""s fabrication equipment, as they did with the designer""s fabrication equipment. Because semiconductor designs are very complex, significant effort must be expended to ensure that all critical dimensions (CD""s) of the device are properly fabricated with the manufacturer""s fabrication equipment. That is, significant effort must be expended to ensure that the process window for fabricating the device on the manufacturer""s fabrication equipment is acceptable. Where necessary, OPC and other modifications may be made to the semiconductor design, to ensure that properly fabricated devices are yielded by the manufacturer""s fabrication equipment.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved verification process that alleviates these shortcomings. In particular, there is a need for such a verification process that can be accomplished relatively quickly and without incurring additional cost. There is a need to easily verify mask quality for each critical pattern, and for manual inspection to be as standardized as possible. There is also a need for such easy verification to be performed when a photomask is transferred from development to production, from design to manufacturing, and so on. For these and other reasons, there is a need for the present invention.
The invention relates to a verification mask, for process window verification purposes when switching between fabrication equipment, and/or for optical proximity correction (OPC) verification purposes. The mask includes device areas that are separated by scribe lines. One or more process window verification patterns are integrated into the scribe lines for verification purposes.
The invention provides for advantages not found within the prior art. The integration of verification patterns into the scribe lines of a photomask allows for easy and standardized monitoring and verification of the process window when switching between semiconductor fabrication equipment, as well as for the verification of mask quality when performing OPC. For example, in the former case, the new fabrication equipment, such as the manufacturer""s equipment, should be able to yield clear imprints of the patterns on semiconductor wafers, just as the old fabrication equipment, such as the designer""s equipment, did. The yielding of a clear imprint indicates to the technician that the process window for fabricating semiconductor devices using the mask on the new equipment is adequate.
The technician, therefore, does not have to examine the entire mask, but rather only has to examine the standard verification patterns integrated into the scribe lines of the mask. The verification patterns are desirably standardized as integrated into the scribe lines of photomasks. This standardizes approach to mask verification allows for faster checking of the masks insofar as transfer between semiconductor equipment is concerned. Other advantages, embodiments, and aspects of the invention will become apparent by reading the detailed description that follows, and by referencing the attached drawings.